Commission staff outline adaptive management plan for Keauhou groundwater

Commission staff presented a proposal on April 1 to create an adaptive management plan (AMP) for the Keauhou Aquifer sector on Hawaii Island aimed at protecting groundwater, groundwater-dependent ecosystems and traditional and customary practices while allowing for monitored development.

The briefing, given during the Commission on Water Resource Management meeting, described the AMP as an iterative program of monitoring, trigger-based actions and revisions. Staff said the initial funding for the project is roughly $149,000 in federal money that must be spent by Sept. 30; staff said they will seek additional funds or use operating funds if necessary.

Staff framed the AMP as a response to limitations in current tools. The commission’s standard planning instrument, the Water Resource Protection Plan, relies on sustainable-yield calculations — currently set at 38,000,000 gallons per day for Keauhou — that staff described as using simplifying assumptions about geology and not explicitly protecting groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) or traditional and customary practices. The AMP, staff said, would add both scientific and cultural indicators, and create pre-agreed management actions such as reducing pumping if ecological or cultural triggers are reached.

First deputy Kira Kahahane (Commission on Water Resource Management staff) outlined the plan’s objectives: identify significant landscapes and GDEs, specify monitoring needs (including possible deep monitor wells), set ecologically and culturally based triggers for action, and allocate monitoring costs equitably across the region. The briefing said some aquifer bodies in Keauhou (basal lens, dike-confined/high-level, and deep confined) may be hydraulically distinct and that distinguishing them will likely take two to three years of study.

Staff said the AMP would build on earlier work, including a National Park Service draft plan for Kaloko Honokohau National Historic Park and a 2021 U.S. Geological Survey scientific investigations report, and that they had contracted Peter Adler of Guild Consulting to facilitate advisory panels and expert focus groups. Adler told commissioners his team will inventory existing scientific and community knowledge and prioritize the most salient evidence for initial monitoring and indicators.

Commissioners and participants debated several legal and practical points. Commissioners noted that Kapakaia o Ka'aina (Kapaka) and subsequent Hawaii Supreme Court rulings require the agency to identify valued cultural resources, assess impacts and propose feasible protections. Staff said the AMP is intended to implement that framework in a groundwater context by continually reassessing impacts and protections rather than relying on a single fixed sustainable-yield number.

Public stakeholders who testified urged robust community engagement, transparency in consultant selection and explicit incorporation of cultural information and consultation into the AMP. Department of Hawaiian Home Lands representatives asked staff to consider mitigation measures from their recent environmental assessment for a North Kona well. Some commenters said the AMP should not be used as a substitute for site-specific analyses required of applicants, while others saw the AMP as a regional tool to inform future permit reviews.

Staff said they plan to return to the commission with a decision item (a more detailed project description, advisory-panel membership, a preliminary AMP outline and a bibliography of literature to be attached to the draft plan) in May so the public and the commission can weigh in before the AMP moves forward.

The briefing did not include a formal commission vote; staff described the session as an informational briefing and identified follow-up steps and a funding deadline for the initial grant.